Gautam Bambawale is a former Indian ambassador to China and Bhutan, and a former high commissioner to Pakistan. He is a trustee of Pune International Centre; distinguished professor at Symbiosis International University, Pune, and senior advisor at Ola. Ambassador Bambawale was stationed in Washington, D.C. (20047) during the Indo-US nuclear deal, which transformed ties between the two countries. He was Indias first consul general in Guangzhou (20079) and worked in the Prime Ministers Office (20024). Ambassador Bambawale was joint secretary, East Asia (200914), in the Ministry of External Affairs, and has dealt with China for 15 years in his 34-year diplomatic career.
Dr Vijay Kelkar is vice president, Pune International Centre. He served as chairman of the thirteenth Finance Commission and was executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), overseeing its operations in South Asia during 20002. He has served as petroleum secretary and finance secretary, among other high positions in the Government of India. He was chairman of the Forum of Federations, Ottawa, Canada (201013). Dr Kelkar has a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. He joined the Planning Commission in 1973 and, thereafter, the commerce ministry in 1977 as an economic advisor. He is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan.
Dr Raghunath Mashelkar , Fellow of the Royal Society, is a national research professor and the president at Pune International Centre. He was the former director general of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi; president of Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; chairman of National Innovation Foundation, Gandhinagar, and president of Global Research Alliance, New Delhi. He has more than 60 honours to his name, including the prestigious Lenovo Science Prize of the World Academy of Science, JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award and Star of Asia Award. As many as 44 universities have bestowed honorary doctorates on him. He was a member of the Science Advisory Council of Prime Minister for almost 30 years. He is a recipient of Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.
Dr Ganesh Natarajan is a trustee and founding member of Pune International Centre. He is also the executive chairman and founder of 5F World, a platform for skills, start-ups and social ventures. Additionally, he also holds the positions of chairman at Honeywell Automation India Ltd; Global Talent Track, a pioneer in employability skills training in Asia; Pune City Connect and SVP India. He is a member of the board of State Bank of India and founder of Center for AI and Advanced Analytics and Kalzoom Advisors. He led APTECH, a global training major, for 10 years and Zensar Technologies as vice chairman and CEO till early 2016. He is a former chairman of NASSCOM Foundation, a member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII); the global board director of Social Venture Partners and the convener at SVP Pune.
Dr Ajit Ranade is the group executive president and chief economist at Aditya Birla Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate. He is also Chair of Research Advisory Panel at Indian Institute of Banking and Finance; governing council member at The Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL); member of the board at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics GIPE and member of the Academic Council of Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics. He has a BTech in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Dr Ranade is also the co-founder and trustee of Association for Democratic Reforms.
Prof. Ajay Shah is involved in academic and policy-oriented research on India at the intersection of economics, law and public administration. He has a BTech in aeronautical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and earned his PhD in economics from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He has held positions at Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research (IGIDR), Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and National Institute for Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). Prof. Shah has co-authored In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy (2019, Penguin Allen Lane) with Dr Vijay Kelkar.
Praise for the Book
Pune International Centre keeps producing policy papers and books that inform public opinion and help shape public policy. India has to learn to live with China, not just as an important neighbour, but as a major economic power that influences the contours of the global environment. The points of friction are obvious and COVID has compounded matters. This extremely useful book puts together (much beyond the narrow economic domain) what India must do to handle this challenge, which is also an opportunity.
Dr Bibek Debroy
Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister
Coping with the rise of China is our key challenge. This book insightfully identifies this as a domestic challenge. India must become economically strong through rapid growth over decades within the institutions of a liberal democracy. Read this excellent book to find out how.
Naushad Forbes
Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall
India is facing increased national security threats and an ever-widening gap in comprehensive national power with its main challenger. This is no time to indulge in myopic military jingoism. We need to reset the China policy with realization that a nations political and military strength flows from its sustained economic and technological growth. This book from Pune International Centre, authored by the foremost experts and former decision-makers, gives a realistic assessment and offers pragmatic policy recommendations.
Gen. Ved Prakash Malik, PVSM, AVSM
Former Chief of Army Staff
As Indias relations with China head into a deep freeze, there is more anxiety than strategy in Delhis discourse. This book by Pune International Centre succeeds in changing the terms of that debate by laying out sustainable pathways to overcome Delhis growing economic asymmetry and strategic imbalance with Beijing.
Prof. C. Raja Mohan
Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
As India surveys the detritus of three grave crisesa pandemic, an economic downturn and a military confrontationsix eminent, non-partisan intellectuals offer a clear-eyed analysis of the threats posed by Chinas hegemonic ambitions. The book offers a pragmatic masterplan for India to regain its buoyant trajectory in the economic, technological and foreign-policy arenas.
Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd)
Former Navy Chief and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff
A critically important study that analyses the long game in the IndiaChina equation, highlighting the strategic patience, sophistication and nimbleness required for a twenty-first-century China strategy for India that reaches beyond military affairs into economics, science, trade, industry, education, technology and innovation. This book is a compelling panopticon in sweep and vision.
Nirupama Menon Rao
Retired Indian Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to China and the US
Rising to the China Challenge is a stellar contribution to Indias rethinking of how to manage a more dangerous China. By embedding its recommendations in the realities of interdependencebut without becoming hostage to themthis book shows how India can grow rapidly enough to compete with China in partnership with other nations similarly challenged by Beijings behaviour. This should be required reading for Indias policymakers and its national security elites alike.
